Fruit in Beer

Hi All just joined the ranks of premium member woohoo. So on to my question.
I am going to make a light ale, I was think something along the line of strawberry blonde. I am going to use frozen sliced strawberries. I know I don't add them until he secondary. My question is how much strawberries for the 5 gallon batch? I don't want it overpowering, but I would like the hint and feel of the strawberry. any help would be appreciated.

in my experience, the tartness takes over before the strawberry flavor is very strong. you may want to look at using strawberry extracts?

hmm interesting thanks for the info I will look into it, appreciate the advice

I've found strawberries don't take too well, but had the best luck with frozen and the little tiny wild strawberries. Anyone else notice that store bought strawberries don't really taste like strawberries anymore, just kind of watery?

I already have the strawberries, I think I will steep them in a little water just below biol 170* or there about. for like 30 minutes. then strain them though a mesh funnel to get just the juices out. What do you guys think. I am open to ideas here. thanks

TomInMaine said:

I already have the strawberries, I think I will steep them in a little water just below biol 170* or there about. for like 30 minutes. then strain them though a mesh funnel to get just the juices out. What do you guys think. I am open to ideas here. thanks

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that might be too hot and could bring on the pectin. They were frozen right? Cold and hot both kills nasties. thaw em, puree em and add it to secondary.

if you must use heat to pasturize, do just that. Low heat pasturization. I'm sure with some good searching on the innerweb you can find the temp that strawberries releast the pectain and stay well below it. (lower temp does require longer duration)

This is what I did and it turned out great. Just finished the last of them over Memorial Day. Used 4# for 5 gallons.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/adding-strawberries-2ndary-106243/

i've used raspberries by mashing them up in a bit of rum or vodka - adding fruit to the secondary is generally a lot safer infection-wise than primary, but I wanted to take the extra precaution. I was working on a mead, so the alcohol flavor didn't come through. You could technically even rinse them whole in starsan, then a quick clean water rinse. should be completely safe.

davefleck said:

that might be too hot and could bring on the pectin. They were frozen right? Cold and hot both kills nasties. thaw em, puree em and add it to secondary.

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I'm not sure I agree with that. I think freezing actually preserves many kinds of bacteria.

PintOfBitter said:

You could technically even rinse them whole in starsan, then a quick clean water rinse. should be completely safe.

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no need to rinse.
rinsing will introduce more bacteria and defeat the purpose of using a no-rinse sanitizer.

Just dip em for 30 seconds, then put em into the secondary and rack on top of them. whatever starsan makes it into your brew will turn into food for the yeasties as they work on the fruit...they could use some nutrients anyway.

I just bottled my first fruit beer (Blackberry) last Sunday and I must say it was quite tart and sour when I tasted the sample. I will assume that fruit beers need more time to bottle condition. I basically rinsed them very well, froze them, thawed them, pureed in the cuisinart and added to the secondary. I think next time I will use some type of candied fruit or maybe preserves if I can find some that dont have any type of preservatives in them.